I bugged NYA office and vehicle – Ras Mubarak

The Member of Parliament for Kumbungu in the Northern Region and former National Youth Authority (NYA) Chief Executive, Mr Ras Mubarak has said he also secretly placed an audio visual recording device in his office and also placed a tracking device on his official vehicle but failed to inform his successor.

The current acting Chief Executive of the NYA, Mr Emmanuel Asigiri, discovered the device after his vehicle was sent for servicing.

Mr. Asigiri questioned why Mr. Mubarak failed to inform officials at the Authority that he was bugging the state vehicle.

He made the disclosure on Saturday during the Newsfile news analysis programme on Joy FM.

Mr Asigiri was commenting on the recent revelation that former Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, bugged his former office without the knowledge of his successors, Nii Osah Mills and Mr John Peter Amewu.

According to Mr. Asigiri, in March this year, barely a month into his tenure, he also discovered the snooping device in his official vehicle – the same vehicle that had been used by the former NYA boss under the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration.

“It is not only Inusah Fuseini who did this type of thing. I have suffered the same personally. My official SUV had a tracking in it and nobody in the authority knew until it created a problem for the vehicle.

“The vehicle won’t start. We tried all the things we needed to do, the vehicle won’t start. We brought experts from Toyota Ghana, they tried everything the vehicle won’t start,” he said.

According to him, it was after a critical study of the vehicle by the dealers that the device was found.

When Mr Mubarak was contacted by Joy FM on the matter, he admitted placing the secret tracking device on the state vehicle.

“I had a tracking device in my official vehicle. I also had a security camera in my office,” he said.

He said he had packed out of his office several months before the end of 2016 and that while he was leaving office, he ensured that all the security installations were removed.

“I had directed that the tracking device, which was [put in the vehicle] ostensibly for security measures was deactivated, but I haven’t been able to follow through because I had handed over,” he said.

“I had directed my driver to ensure that [the tracking device] was removed from the car,” he added.

On why the new acting NYA Chief Executive should not be worried that his movements were being monitored by Mr Mubarak, he said, “I can assure listeners and the acting Chief Executive of the NYA that he will be the last person whose movement I would like to monitor. There are too many bigger fishes in the NPP to want to track than somebody at the NYA,” he said.